Puddle or Raindrop?

If we compare ourselves and people we interact with as raindrops and puddles which one are you?

If you look at a puddle in the rain you will see that raindrops fall into it, causing many ripples. The puddle has no choice but be bombarded by the raindrops. They cause a disruption of the surface, and ripple out that disruption to the edges. The heavier the rainfall, the more the raindrops, the more disturbance. Some people see their lives as having things happen to them with no choice about it.

Then of course, there are the raindrops themselves. These raindrops fall from the sky and have an impact upon the puddles into which they fall. Causing ripples in the puddles due to their impact. There are people in the world who appear to be incredibly influential in others' lives (Ghandi, Martin Luther King Jr, The Dalai Lama, Hitler, Genghis Khan, etc). Were their impacts always positive? Or always negative? Perhaps they were a bit of both.....?

But let us look at it another way. Ok, the puddle can't choose whether or not to be hit by the raindrops, and neither can it choose how it reacts to the bombarding of the rain. However, it does grow. The more rain that hits a puddle, the larger it gets. As humans we can choose how we respond. We can go through life complaining that things keep happening to us, or we can choose to learn and grow from each experience.

The important thing to notice about raindrops and puddles is - they're made up of the same thing..... water. They're separate if they're viewed in one way (puddles and raindrops) and they're the same if viewed in another (water).

As you go through this week, have a ponder about your life and how you respond to things that happen to you. Will you choose to get cross or upset, or will you choose to learn and grow? Be aware of how your "raindrops" affect other people's "puddles". In other words, things that you do will cause ripples in others people's lives - would you like those ripples to be positive or negative? And finally..... remember that, like raindrops and puddles, we are all connected and what we do to someone else, ultimately affects us too. You don't have to be famous or powerful to affect someone's life.